On a razor's edge
by elphantidae
Summary: In the hp books, Bellatrix Lestrange never had any children. But what if she did? Antigone Lestrange is almost fifteen and entering her fourth year at Hogwarts as a Slytherin. But things get complicated when she faces the choice between following the family business and becoming a full fledged death eater or risking everything to save the lives of those around her.
1. Chapter 1

Seven Years ago… Crash

It was half past one when the first crashes woke me up. Still in a place half between awake and asleep I hugged my stuffed hippogriff Xander to my chest and turned over to the cool side of my pillow. After a few seconds I felt myself drifting back to sleep and my vision started to get dark and blurry and…

Crash

My eyes snapped open. My bedroom was dark but I could see by the moonlight the outline of Claire's crib. "Good thing the noise didn't wake her," I thought dowsily as I pushed myself out of bed to see what the commotion was. I walked quietly across our room and slipped out the door, taking extra care to shut it quietly behind me so I wouldn't wake little Claire. I yawned and looked around the Lestrange Manor's living room. It was completely quiet and empty from what I could see by the moonlight. Confused, I shrugged a little to myself, figuring I had dreamt the whole thing up when I heard a yell and a series of bangs. I jumped and hugged Xander closer to me and waited.

Silence.

Cautiously, I approached the door on the opposite side of the room that lead to the main foyer. When I got close I heard more yells and hurried footsteps. I pressed my ear against the keyhole listening to their muffled shouts. I recognized my mother's voice but there were others that I didn't recognize and their rough voices scared me. It occurred to me that I should be hiding if someone was breaking into my home but I couldn't bring myself to do anything but stay crouched where I was listening at the keyhole.

"We have Rodolphus, Lestrange," I heard a deep voice say. "If you surrender now-" but my mother cut him off with a curse.

"_Crucio_!" I heard her yell and immediately I put my hands over my ears to block out the screams I knew would come next. I didn't know how long to wait before waking them off. My mother usually took her time with that one and I hated hearing the screams of people who my mother used it on. I tentatively took my hands off my ears and to my relief there were no screams. However, my relief turned to ice cold dread when I realized the footsteps were heading straight towards my door. I froze, torn between fear of what my mother would do if she caught me breaking a rule and fear of these foreign unfamiliar people who were invading my house.

_Get _up_, Anna! _I thought and managed to tear myself away from the door and stumble across the room back towards my bedroom just in time for the door to spring open. My mother backed through the doorway, facing away from me, wand raised with a twisted smile on her face. Over her shoulder was a group of at least eight men who were firing jets of brightly colored light out of their wands. Clearly my mother was losing but nevertheless, she was laughing wildly at the bad men as she held off their attacks. I stood as though bolted to the ground as some jets of light sailed over her shoulder and ricocheted around the room, breaking the giant glass mirror that hung on the far wall. I didn't know whether I should duck or hide or try to make it back to the bedroom so I just stood there, rooted to the spot trying to figure out what I should do. Then I thought of Claire. And I felt some small fraction of my fear dissipate to be replaced with steely resolve. No matter what, I wouldn't let these men or my mother hurt her. That was when one of the men noticed me.

"Hold your fire! It's one of the kids!" he bellowed over his shoulder and immediately the jets of light stopped. At the same time Bellatrix turned to me, an evil leer playing over her face that made my blood stop cold. For only a second we made eye contact and in that second I realized what was happening. I remembered that night my mother came home with that exhilarated look I had long ago learned meant she had torture on her mind and the hushed conversation her and my father had had after. I guess I always knew that my parents were not good people and did bad things but in that moment the memory of that night and whatever was happening now connected in my head and I realized that sometime not so long ago my parents had done something _really_ bad and that these strange people could only be the magical law enforcement I had heard my parents discuss so many times since that night. When she was looking at me with that twisted smile on her face, I realized what was going to happen just a second before it did. I turned to run but she in one fluid motion she grabbed me by the arm and swung me around so I was in front of her facing the others. I struggled ferociously, kicking and scratching into thin air until I felt the ice cold tip of her wand on my cheek and I immediately went limp. I saw all eight of the intruders freeze.

"She's bluffing," said the man with the deep voice. "Even _she_ wouldn't use her own daughter as a hostage."

"Wouldn't I? I heard my mother say in sweet delicate voice that sent a shiver up my back. "Go ahead, Antigone," my mother murmured while stroking my hair. "Tell the nice men if you think I am capable of such acts." I didn't move a muscle.

"You wouldn't _kill_ your own daughter," the same man repeated but with less certainty than before. _Yes she would,_ I thought bitterly. I had learned a long time ago not to question how far my parents could go. I guess that it was around then that I realized probably wouldn't leave that room alive. My mother would never let herself be taken quietly and whoever these people were, they came here to capture my parents and that his had to be done no matter what the cost. I could see my mother's arm raising her arm and I felt her intake a breath, about to cast another curse and I shut my eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

**So before the actual story starts I want to clear up a few things. The story will take place around book seven but Bella Lestrange is still in Azkaban. Anna is two years younger than Draco and Harry. Other than that, everything is the same.**

I woke up in a cold sweat panting my hand against my heart. I hated that dream. I always woke up right before the green jet of light hit me. I sighed and flopped back down on my bed and glanced at the clock on my bedside. Four fifty-seven. Seeing as I wouldn't be falling asleep any time soon, I pushed my comforter off and got out of bed.  
"Annie, is it time to wake up yet?" I heard a sleepy voice ask from the bed on the other side of the room.

"No Claire, you can go back to sleep," I called back softly.

Four hours. In four hours I would be on the Hogwarts express, leaving behind Malfoy Manor and everyone in it. Thinking about it gave me a little rush of relief which was almost immediately followed by a twinge of guilt. True, I would be leaving behind Lucius for another four months until Christmas break but I was also leaving Claire behind with him which I couldn't help feel a little bit guilty about. But I knew that he wouldn't dare hurt her if only because he didn't want the negative publicity that would break out if his niece stormed home from Hogwarts mid-semester. I smirked at the thought of what Lucius's face would look like if I showed up on his doorstep in October as I got dressed. I had already packed what I needed the night before so I walked quietly to the kitchen. I loved this time of day, before anyone else woke up and I had the manor all to myself. Usually, because of Lucius's temper, I, like Draco, Claire and Narcissa tried to stay out of his way. Unfortunately, I proved to be very bad at this in the last few weeks, though to be fair it hadn't been _entirely_ my fault. I grabbed a bowl and filled it with cereal and walked into the dining room and leaned on the doorway. The dining room table's polished mahogany surface glistened in the moonlight that streamed in from the five massive windows that lined the wall opposite to me. I remembered the last time it had been used.

The Dark Lord at the end of the table, Death Eaters lining the edges. I was serving the guests, refilling goblets with wine and taking people's cloaks but I couldn't help but listen in. It was something about Hogwarts, some sort of plan. They kicked me out before I heard anything important but a few things stayed with me. 1.) Draco, who usually did my job, was sitting at the table, looking extremely nervous. 2.) This was the first meeting that the Dark Lord held since his resurrection last June, and 3.) A few faces like Karkaroff's were missing. Judging from facts one and two, three probably meant that I wouldn't be seeing Karkaroff any time soon. And maybe I was imagining it but the whole time I was catering to the death eaters, I couldn't shake the feeling that the Dark Lord himself was watching me.

Just another day in the Malfoy household, I guess. I wandered into the bathroom that I used, mostly because it was the smallest and the least used. I brushed my teeth and did what I could to get my hair in some semblance of an order before looking in the mirror. I usually made a point not to look in mirrors to much because of my striking resemblance to my dear mother. Unfortunately, I had inherited her pale marble skin, dark brown eyes, and wild black curls.

"Annie?" I heard a voice say. I whipped around, wand out in an offensive stance only to be faced with eight- year-old Claire who was sleepily rubbing her eyes. She was hugging my old Xander the hippogriff who, frankly, had seen better days. "I couldn't sleep." She said.

"That's alright. Pick out your favorite cereal and I'll make you breakfast," I said to her with a smile. She smiled and headed off to the kitchen. I can count on one hand the number of people who I actually care about and Claire is at the top of the list. Maybe it's because I've felt I had to protect her since the day my mother was arrested or maybe it was because of her sweet and gentle nature (an unusual trait in the Black family) or maybe because I knew that deep down she was everything I wished I could be more like. Looking at us side by side, it would be hard to tell that we're related let alone sisters. In contrast to my deathly pale complexion, hers is more of an olive gold. Instead of the typical Black family dark ringlets I've been cursed with she has bronze hair that falls in waves rather than curls and her eyes are more hazel than brown. What really sets her apart from me and the rest of the family is her gentle temperament. Me, Narcissa, Draco, and much as I hated to admit it, Lucius all have a sort of the-ends-justify-the-means attitude typical of Death Eaters and Purebloods alike. I know that I can describe myself as morally gray at best but Claire thankfully isn't like me. She's better than all of us and I think that we all know it on some level.

I wasn't thrilled about leaving her behind for another year but ultimately there wasn't much I could do about it. The fact was that I had to go to school and she had to stay here. We've lived here ever since the day they took Bellatrix away. Actually, Lucius was more or less forced into taking us in. After my mother was arrested, Claire and I were taken to the ministry until they could find our next of kin. However, most of our next of kin didn't want to take in any children of such a notorious death eater so that was easier said than done. Lucius, occupying a major job at the ministry knew how it would look if he refused to take in two children with nowhere else to go couldn't turn down the request and unwillingly took us in. That was seven years ago. Now I'm fifteen and Claire's almost eight and not much has changed. Saying Lucius hasn't warmed to us is an understatement. He despises us along with the stain our name brings to his precious family, although to be fair, Lucius isn't particularly fond of anybody. Most of the time, Draco Narcissa and I try our best to stay out of his way but I seem to display an uncanny aptitude for getting him mad. But one thing that's not changed after all these years is that I've learned not to question Lucius or pay the price.

I wandered into the kitchen and poured Claire her cereal before heading into the library to get all of my schoolbooks together. To my surprise, Draco was there too but he wasn't reading, just staring out a window at the rising sun. Figuring this was as good as chance as any to get some information about the last Death Eater meeting, I cleared my throat. Draco jumped slightly and whipped around his wand out to which I held my hands up in the universal nonthreatening gesture. Realizing who I was, he lowered his wand and I thought it was safe to walk up to him.  
"Sorry," he muttered, not looking up from the window. I decided to start with small talk.

"Have you seen Lucius yet?" I asked. He took a while to answer, as though my question required a lot of thinking.

"Yeah," he said distractedly. "I ran into him…a few minutes ago." I narrowed my eyes at him. Ever since that meeting a month ago, he seemed more reserved, clearly on edge about something. Come to think of it, so did Lucius and Narcissa. Clearly, they were hiding something.

I focused my concentration on Draco's mind. Even without my wand, I was a decent Legilimens but it would help if I could get him to think about whatever it was that was on his mind.

"So any big plans for next year?" I asked casually.

"Yeah. I guess you could say that," he answered quietly.

"Something to do with the meeting?" I asked lightly. His eyes flicked over to me quickly before returning back to the window.

"What meeting?" he asked.

"You know which one," I answered, not looking away from the sunrise.

"Anna, you know you're not allowed to ask about that," he said almost angrily.

"I won't tell if you don't," I answered flippantly.

"Just having this conversation could have consequences for my whole family." He said in the same tense voice as before.

"Draco-" I started but he cut me off.

"Don't talk about what you don't understand, Anna. I..I have a mission and it's my duty to fulfill it and none of that's any of your business," he said evenly, but I could see his hand shaking and I could tell just how upset he is over whatever mission the Dark Lord gave him. I opened my mouth to ask another question but he didn't give me a chance.

"Lucius was looking for you," he said and turned on his heel and left. I stayed where I was listening to his rapid footsteps receding down the hall.

Of all the Malfoys, Draco was my favorite. Sure, he could be an arrogant prick sometimes and was the one of the biggest pureblood supremacists I knew (second only to his father) but most of the time when it was just the two of us, Draco was tolerable, sometimes even nice. And of course we were both in the same boat when it came to Lucius. His father's incessant pressure for Draco to succeed took a toll on him and I had never even seen Lucius so much as hug Draco. I didn't really have a problem with Narcissa either. She was civil enough to me but I didn't feel the same pity I felt towards Draco about Lucius. I mean, she was the one who married the guy.

Sighing I turned around and headed up to Lucius's study and knocked on the door.

"Enter," a voice said so I stepped into the study. Lucius's desk was overflowing with papers with important looking ministry seals on them.

"You wanted to see me, Uncle?" I asked, doing my best to keep my voice polite. He didn't offer me a seat but just started talking.

"As I'm sure you know by now, Draco has been granted the honor of doing a service for the Dark Lord. You have already been instructed not to question him on the matter and should I hear of any instances where you attempt to extort information from him, rest assured, there will be hell to pay." He said all this very menacingly, glaring at me the whole time.

"I wouldn't dream of it," I assured him a little to innocently.

"Don't play games with me, girl," he hissed. "There is more at stake than you could possibly imagine. I expect that should Draco ask for your assistance with anything at all you will comply fully. Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal" I said. That's when I caught sight of the head of one of the important looking ministry papers. It said "Probable leads on whereabouts of inner circle Death Eaters." I knew that the smart thing would be to just walk away but seeing that, I really couldn't resist. "You know Lucius, if you really want to inform the ministry of Death Eater's whereabouts, have them come for tea next Friday."

"Why, you insolent girl!" he snarled standing up, his fists clenched in rage. I stood as well, preparing to duck if he decided to take a swing at me. I was sure that I was in for it when we heard Narcissa's voice yelling that we were going to be late. Seizing the opportunity, I practically bolted from the room. Between the Dark Lord being back and whatever Draco was involved with, I could tell already that it would be a long year.

…

We arrived at platform 9 ¾ 10 minutes before the train would leave. Narcissa hugged Draco and gave him a weak smile which he returned. Lucius checked his watch impatiently as I turned to Claire.

"You know that if you never need anything, all you have to do is send an owl. I'll write you every week," I say looking her in the eye.

"Don't worry about me, Annie, I'll be fine," she said.

"I'll be home for break in four months," I reminded her.

"Now don't forget to keep up your grades," broke in Narcissa as Draco boarded the train. Then she kind of awkwardly hugged me and whispered "I'll keep an eye on Claire," in my ear.

"Thanks," I whispered back and we broke apart. She nodded and stepped back into the crowd of people. Lucius then started lecturing me about "upholding the family name" and the "standards I was held to". I discreetly rolled my eyes at Claire who suppressed a giggle. Then he checked his watch a final time and left after Narcissa.

"Well this is goodbye," I said and leaned down to hug Claire who wrapped her arms around me. The train's whistle blew, signaling one minute to go. "I'll miss you," I said holding onto her shoulders.

"Don't worry Annie. If Lucius gets too unbearable, I'll pay one of the house elves to drug his food with sleeping draught," she whispered as she hugged me

"That's my girl," I murmured and squeezed her hand a final time before boarding the train.


	3. Chapter 3

I heaved my trunk along through the cramped corridor. Since I boarded at the last minute, I doubted there would be an empty compartment left. That left the option of sitting with Draco and some of the other Slytherins, something I desperately wanted to avoid. That's when I spotted Zabini talking with an older looking student who was still in their muggle clothes. I quickly sidestepped out of his view and then all but dived into the nearest compartment. Had he seen me? I doubted it. Straightening up, I turned around and prepared myself to give a plausible explanation to whoever else was there about why I had burst into their compartment without so much as knocking. Luckily, the only other person there was a boy in Hufflepuff robes who was snoring loudly, his breath misting the glass of the small window. I carefully stepped around him and shoved my rucksack between the window and the seat. Finally, I sank into the opposite seat, closing my eyes and letting out a long sigh.

I know that my aversion to other Slytherins is more than a little hypocritical considering I'm a seventh generation Slytherin myself but for whatever it's worth, it's not for the reason most people would think. Most people who didn't know me would say that I was distancing myself from others who might be associated with the Dark Lord or even that I was ashamed to belong to a house that produced so many dark wizards. Sadly, this was not the case. The real reason why I avoided them as much as I could without bringing attention to myself was much less honorable than that. The sad truth was that I was already in a class above most of them. While a decent lot of them had brought up what it might be like joining the Death Eaters and some had even flirted with the idea of getting branded, none of them had the access and connections that I did. None of them (with the exception of Draco) had spent their Friday nights in the long dark dining room of Malfoy Manor playing maid to some of the most evil twisted people on earth. And none of them had been okay with it. I pushed my palms into my eyes, already feeling the start of a migraine coming on.

I knew what would have happened if Zabini had seen me. He would have come over and started a conversation, probably about something innocuous and mundane like a new school book or Slytherin's chances at the quidditch cup. But there would have been that curiosity in his eyes that could only have been about what had happened at the meetings that his parents went to once a week. He would never have been bold enough to actually ask about them but he, like all the rest of the Slytherins, would have known that me and Draco were privy to at least some part of them. This combined with what my dear parents had done at the end of the last war had elevated me to something of an unwelcome celebrity status among most Slytherins. Sometimes hearing them talk about things like the last wizarding war and dark marks was almost like being a hardened criminal surrounded by inexperienced harmless first time offenders. After an hour or two of just sitting quietly, the sky that was framed by the small window started to darken to a velvety dusk. Another half-hour later, I felt my eyelids start to grow heavy. I blinked once. Then again. Then again…

I was rudely awakened to the sound of a door slamming. Frantically trying to blink the sleep out of my eyes, I whipped out my wand at the outline of the intruder standing in the doorway of the compartment.

"Who is it," I snarled, still blinded by the lights that had now turned on in the compartment.

"It's just me," said a bewildered sounding voice.

"Me, _who_?" I demanded, still not lowering my wand.

"Colin. Colin Creevy. Would you…would you point that somewhere else?" sputtered the same voice. I realized that my wand was pointed directly between his eyes and was probably less than an inch from his forehead. For a second I was irresistibly reminded of Draco's reaction when I first confronted him this morning.

"Sorry," I muttered. I stuffed my wand back into my pocket. I figured now that I had lowered my wand, whoever Colin Creevy was would want to get as far away from me as he could. But he didn't.

"Do you mind if I sit here? Everywhere else is full," he asked cheerfully.

"Sure," I said without enthusiasm, hoping he would pick up on the note of annoyance in my voice. But clearly, Colin Creevy was not good at reading between the lines because he dragged his rucksack loudly into the apartment and heaved it up onto the seat where the Hufflepuff boy was still snoring away before sitting down himself. I closed my eyes, figuring I might be able to drift off for another hour or so before I had to change into my school robes. I sat there with my eyes shut for about fifteen minutes and was just about to drift off when I heard a loud clanking noise. Then it stopped. Then another five minutes of silence and I was just starting to feel the warmth of sleep creeping over me when I heard it again, only louder. I opened my eyes. Colin had taken what looked like a modified muggle camera out of his rucksack and was fiddling with something on the side of it.

"Oh, sorry. Was I bothering you?" he asked, seeing that I was awake.

"Why would you be bothering me," I asked sarcastically, but my sarcasm was completely lost on Colin who continued to fiddle with whatever it was on the camera that was making so much noise.

"Just a tiny adjustment," he muttered, turning a dial. "And…there," he said in triumph as his camera emitted a puff of smoke. Finally done with the stupid camera, he turned his attention to me.

"I didn't catch your name," he said.

"I didn't mention it," I muttered, now becoming seriously annoyed. But he just looked at me expectantly, clearly waiting for an answer. I sighed. Clearly, another hour of sleep was out of the question now.

"My name is Antigone but everyone calls me Anna," I said.

"Oh. Well like I mentioned, I'm Colin," he said and grinned. I scrutinized him. It was awfully hard to be annoyed with someone so oblivious to your irritation. An awkward silence stretched on for a minute. I figured it wouldn't be long until he said something else. I was right.

"So what year are you?" he asked with genuine curiosity.

"Fifth year," I replied.

"Me too," he said. "I wonder why I don't remember seeing you before." He had a point. Three years at Hogwarts and he didn't look the least bit familiar to me.

"So what house are you in?" I asked to be polite.

"Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart," he said in such a ridiculous way that when he grinned this time I couldn't help smile a little too. He wasn't as dense as he first seemed. "So what about you?" he asked. "You look a bit like a Ravenclaw," he said.

"Something like that," I said, deciding it was probably not the best moment to bring up the fact that our houses were rivals to the death. Hoping to change the subject, I added, "I like your camera."

"Thanks," he said and patted the lenses. "Did you hear about who's taking over for defense against the dark arts?" he asked in a much more serious tone. I shook my head. Between everything that had happened between June and now, it had completely slipped my mind that we would have a new defense teacher.

"Professor _Snape_," he said, with the air of someone reporting something impressive.

"What?" I snapped. Everyone knew that Snape was after the job but I never seriously entertained the thought that he might actually get it. If Dumbledore trusted Snape with something like that, maybe he was finally losing his touch.

"I know!" he replied, with a knowing nod. "You don't like him either?" he asked. My opinions of the potions master were mixed at best. I mean, I _knew_ he was a Death Eater. I had seen him at the meetings. I shook my head.

"He seems a bit…" I said, unsure how to describe him without bringing up the subject of Death Eaters.

"Unbalanced? Pure evil? The bane of the existence of students everywhere?"

At this I laughed a bit. After that, the tension eased a bit and we talked for a half hour more, before he left to go change. As I changed into my Slytherin robes, I reflected on how nice it had been to have an interaction with someone who was not either admiring or horrified of my notorious status as the daughter of one of the most infamous dark sorcerers of all time. It had been simple, easy. It had been years since I'd been able to talk without analyzing what I was going to say before I said it. But if he knew who I was or even just what house I belonged to, none of that ever could have happened. If I ever saw Colin Creevy again, I doubted he would want much to do with me. My last thought as I departed the train was that it was probably better this way.


	4. Chapter 4

It had been seven days since school started. With a few exceptions it seemed to be a pretty normal year. Defense class was about as unbearable as expected. Ancient Runes and Arithmancy were as impossibly difficult as ever. Potions class was interesting though. Apparently, Dumbledore had appointed Horace Slughorn the new Potions Teacher. I didn't know much about him but I heard some rumors that back before Voldemort got powerful, he had amassed a sort of a collection of students, a lot of who turned out to be death eaters. Apparently, he had distanced himself as much as possible when his little trinkets showed their true colors but his reputation had never completely recovered. His "Slug Club" nowadays was supposed to be mostly Quidditch players or the students who did exceptionally well in school and were expected to do great things after. I was interested to find out more but in class, Slughorn made subtle yet discernable efforts to avoid me if not ignore me all together. I guess cutting ties with death eaters transcended generations.

Between the enormous mountain of homework I had already managed to amass and the chaos of the first week back at school, I didn't really spare much time to think about Draco or his mission. I did notice that he was skipping meals at times and seemed to have lost the sleek saunter he usually walked with. Anyway, with so many things vying for my attention, I was caught completely off guard when Colin found me and struck up a conversation with me. It had been late afternoon on a Saturday and I was working on an astronomy project outside to get away from the unseasonably stifling heat. I didn't notice him until he was standing right in front of me.

"Anna, hi!" he said cheerfully before sitting down beside me.

"Hi Colin," I said neutrally. After our discussion on the train, I hadn't expected to see him again.

"Rough first week, huh?" he asked, eyeing the haphazard pile of star maps beside me.

"No worse than expected," I replied grimly. I knew that any conversation we had now probably wouldn't end well but I wasn't quite sure how to get rid of someone as tenaciously enthusiastic as Colin.

"The amount of work we get, you would think it's our O.W.L. year," he said with distaste. I nodded in agreement hoping he would catch the subtle cue that I wanted to be left alone. Unsurprisingly, he didn't.

"Hey, is that a Slytherin badge," he asked suddenly.

"Yeah, it is," I said evenly.

"I thought you were a Ravenclaw," he said as if seeing me in a new light.

"Nope. I'm a Slytherin." I said casually. _Just drop it, Colin_.

"You seemed so…different," he said, still gaping at me. I guess something in his tone rubbed me the wrong way.

"Different from who?" I asked defensively.

"Just, you know, Slytherins tend to be more…I don't know._ Different_," he said.

"Well sorry to disappoint," I replied tartly.

For once Colin picked up on the annoyance in my voice. "Well, it's not a bad different," he said backpedaling. I watched his face carefully for a trace of contempt or distaste but he actually seemed sincere. The sun had started to set, and I stared off into the distance as the Hogwarts lawn gleamed a fiery orange.

"You had better not let any of your Gryffindor friends see us talking. They might think you're a traitor," I said seriously, still watching the sunset, but Colin just laughed a little. His face suddenly seemed more serious and less boyish.

"What's wrong," I asked noticing the change in his expression.

"It's nothing. I was just thinking that it's too bad about all this house rivalry. It's a shame," he said slowly, as if deep in thought.

"It's just the way it is," I said a bit irritably. Why would he bring up something like that? "I probably shouldn't even be talking to you right now," I added, half joking. But for once, Colin stayed serious.

"I know that's the way it is, but sometimes…" he said trailing off. "I mean look at you," he continued, suddenly turning to me. I raised my eyebrows. "Well, like I said you just seem…different…from what we usually think of Slytherins as. You're not at all what I expected," he said.

"You don't know me," I reminded him darkly, thinking about secret meetings, Dark Marks, and a certain cell in Azkaban.

"True," he acknowledged, "But can you ever tell just by meeting someone what type of person they are?"

I was too taken aback by his abrupt honesty to say anything in response so I half shrugged at him. Figuring this conversation had gone on for long enough I started gathering my things to go.

"Anna?" I heard him ask.

"What?" I snapped, a bit more harshly than I'd meant to.

"On Halloween, we get to stay out a bit later and I was wondering if maybe you'd want to meet up after dinner," he asked.

"I really don't think that's a good ide-" I started.

"Unless you're afraid of breaking the rules," he added with a bit of a challenge in his tone and a mocking gleam in his eye. That settled it.

"Fine. Halloween. After Dinner. Great hall," I snapped and then grabbed up the last of my books and stomped off.

Back in the Slytherin common room, I was still trying to finish off my astronomy chart before tomorrow. When I finally finished, the common room was mostly empty except for a few stragglers. I glanced up at the clock. Eleven-thirty. I sighed and started putting my books together. Tomorrow would be a long day. I remembered I left a few quills by the fireplace and went over to collect them. I quickly swept them unceremoniously into my bag, but not before I noticed the familiar but shadowy figure hunched over a table in the corner. I glanced around. The common room was pretty much empty. If I was going to try to talk to him in private, now was probably the best time.

"Hi," I said walking up to him.

He started at the sound of my voice but didn't pull his wand on me. I took this as a good sign.

"I haven't seen you in a while," I said. It was true. Aside from meals, his appearances were becoming increasingly infrequent.

"I've been busy," he said shortly. I remembered Lucius's warning about asking about Death Eater business. I wasn't afraid of him but it was probably best not to anger him with Claire home alone. On the other hand, Lucius had also ordered me to willingly volunteer my services to whatever mission Draco was involved with. It couldn't hurt to offer my help.

"Do you need help with it? The mission, I mean. Lookouts or anything like that," I asked hopefully. He threw me a scathing look, clearly seeing through my attempt to get more information.

"Go to bed, Anna," he said in a bored voice that sounded more like the condescending arrogant tone he usually favored. I opened my mouth, furious at being dismissed like a child but then thought better of it. If he wrote to Lucius, then I could really end up in trouble. Without saying another word, I turned on my heel and left towards the girl dormitory.


End file.
